Group Shots

Revised 4/17/25 Added one image

As I have noted in previous posts, the formal team picture is a favorite target of fakers.  In my post “The Bad” we dispensed with a large number of pictures as counterfeit because of the existence of original, unaltered versions. In this posting we will follow on my previous contribution by examining team photos for which there is no explicit evidence of their authenticity or lack of it.

Recall that there was a strong current of testimony that whether the males swam nude in public competition or not, when it came to the official team picture, the guys covered up.  The yearbook was not a peep show.  Maybe, maybe not.

With that in mind, let’s take a look.

There is little doubt in my mind that this was doctored.   As a matter of fact, I keep expecting to come across the original any day now.  Its similarity to busted images in previous postings along with the low resolution that I feel is characteristic of a cover up (no pun intended), imbue me with certainty that this was ‘shopped.

The adulterator that glued on the penises, seems to have had an ample supply of organs that were at least half-hard.  That lends an extra touch that insures attention by viewers.

Some ambitious faker went through this image figure-by-figure and de-pantsed each boy to the extent necessary to blend into a plausible whole.  Based on the associated meta data, this was Photoshopped on May 1, 2014 on a Mac.  It was “created” on November 3, 2011.

This is a somewhat truncated version of the original, possibly an outtake from a video.

This is the case of the lazy forger. 

This is a tight pack of guys with the front row strategically placing their hands except for the couple of guys on the right.  But the doubt is sown by the comparison of guy on the extreme right with the three on the left.  The boy on the right has his hands clasped like those of the other side, but a penis is still peeking out. No such display is visible on the left.  As a matter of fact, zooming in on those left side guys seems to show evidence of trunks.  The person who ‘shopped this picture was not thorough.  Parenthetically, I think the penis of the boy third from the right looks like a particularly clumsy glue-on.

Bingo! This was ‘shopped on May 1, 2014 on a Mac.

Ignoring the fakery, I’m calling this one for the 1950’s because of the close haircuts.

You have to love the exuberant energy of the guys in this photo.  Looks like the photographer interrupted a practice and they were glad to accommodate him.  I’m not sure why some of them took the time to don their glasses, but no one reached for trunks.  These guys are literally comfortable in their own skin.

I have high confidence that this is unaltered.  Based on haircuts and facial hair, I put this in the late 1960’s through1970’s.  The near universal presence of swim goggles favors the latter end of that time scale.

No question where we are.  The postings in the background have the YMCA logo all over them.  More specifically, we’re in the Greenwich Y.  The most well-known Greenwich is the one in Connecticut, a rather well-heeled community.  Indeed, the custom suits the girls are wearing must have cost their parents more than a week’s allowance. 

The mixed naked boys-suited girls scenario comports well with the stories from the 1950’s and 60’s.  However, the Y logo showing in the background was only adopted in 2010. This would present a conundrum if this picture were genuine. As the colored original shows, it is not.

The main problem is that the tallest boy (man?) in the center should have his lower torso (and crotch) visible between the two girls in front of him.  Notwithstanding that his feet are visible behind the girls’ feet, there is nothing but open pool water where the rest of him should be. 

The young boy on the right seems equally out of place. Was he added later? This is a chin scratcher.

Welcome to the 1970’s.  I base that on the guys’ hairdos and facial hair. The girls are all over the map with regard to hair styles.  This looks like an older crowd, maybe collegiates.

In the faked version, three of the males in the center right, two in the second row and the other in the top, are exposing skin.  In the original, they are not.

The next two are less formal.

This fake followed the classic pattern of greyscaling to give it a vintage feel as well as injecting nudity to generate interest.  In fairness, thanks to the forger for cropping out the guy on the far left with the dumb expression on his face.

This is a picture of a water polo team, probably of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College (yeah, they really call it that).  Based on the preponderance of blonds in the shot, you’ll have no trouble deducing that this is a California institution.

This might be authentic.  It’s been tightly cropped, which can be indicative of fakery.  But the facility windows are high, suggesting an old venue.  Their hair is wet, so their grooming preferences are hard to discern, but I think they are wearing it longer than typical for the 1950’s.  Maybe early-to-mid 60’s? If the time looks right, is this altered?  If it is, props to the forger for attention to detail.  The penises are perfectly presented. I’m not voting on this one.

The image has metadata associated with it, but it is not the type that rats out forgery.

This exhausts our inventory of unattributed team pictures.  Pretty slim pickin’s. According to Resource 6, there was such widespread high school athletic nudity, that we should be awash with such images.  That obviously is not the case. Moreover, I gave a passing grade to almost none of the ones I posted here. The conclusion is that proof of nude team pictures remains scant.

I should add that I have seen postings to blogs and forums in which a typical correspondent will say sure we posed for nude pictures after our meets and I have the yearbook/family album to prove it.  This implies that there is a trove of unpublished images out there.  But then he goes on to say I can’t share those pictures because they are too personal/violates the privacy of my teammates/attracts trolls, etc. I harbor some healthy skepticism about such claims.

Our next posting will examine diving images.

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